Strindberg’s decision to write the third version of his drama Master Olof in verse may have been a concession to historical drama tradition. The question posed here is whether he renewed the Swedish verse drama. It is shown that, contrary to general belief, Strindberg was the first author in the 19th century to use doggerel verse. Concerning poetic word order, his renewal is less apparent, although he shows a special tendency to vary the degree and kind of poetic wordorder with the situation. Finally, the dialogue is examined with a conversation analysis method. It is shown that Strindberg’s characters, also in verse drama, change the subject of the conversation in a manner closer to observed natural talk than do those of his predecessors.